2020 Goals Update, First Quarter

Hi Quilting Friends,

Let’s see how Sharon & Susan are doing with their personal goals:

Sharon’s Goals for 2020!

Goal #1: Make the Garden Great Again!

My first step was to make a list of what I’d like to see in my finished garden, and decide upon the tasks that I need to complete for the reality of my negelected garden to match the “dream garden” in my mind.

Here are the photos from my original post, for reference:

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And here’s a set of recent pictures, for comparison. Judge for yourself!

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I’m making progress; I’ve spent quite a few hours of work time in the garden. I’ve been trimming trees, shaping shrubs, resetting bricks that form the edges of the beds, and clearing out debris and overgrown plants. There’s plenty more to be done, for sure, and I’ll get started again soon, now that the oak trees are done spewing out pollen this spring.

Goal #2: Finish at least one of my large UFO quilt projects

I’ve finally decided how I want to quilt our new bed quilt, but I haven’t started quilting yet. I will wait until school is out for the year to continue, since I always have more time to sew then. Everything is “go” for the next stage!

Goal #3: Play with the toys that I found in my closet!

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I haven’t started cutting or sewing yet, but I have chosen fabrics for the “Perfect Pineapples” foundation squares. I’m working from home with a shortened schedule these days, so there might be time to play after school is out each day.

Goal #4: Participate with the online quilting community

I’ve participated in the “2020 Planning Party”, “PHD in 2020”, “One Monthly Goal”, and the “Scrap Snap Quilt Along” during this quarter. We’ve also participated in two blog hops this year.

It has been fun to see the amazing projects from other quilters! I’ve visited blogs that I wouldn’t have learned about without these activities, and I’ve “met” some new quilting friends. I’ve finished up 7 projects, and I’ve met my monthly goals (so far). I even won a prize from Yvonne, for a giveaway during QuiltingJetGirl’s 2020 Planning Party! Yay!

Susan’s 2020 Goals!

Okay, I was lazy while I was off 12 glorious days during the Christmas holidays and I didn’t want to write any goals at that time. I’ve chosen three goals for 2020:

Goal #1: Finish my king-sized quilt

Yup, still not finished; however, the quilter has now provided me with a quilting plan (which I love) and I should see the quilt in a month or so. Yay!!! Now I need to repaint our bedroom, prepare the miles of binding and make king-sized pillow shams to match (I already bought matching sheets). The biggest issue I see with making the shams is that we now have so many wonderful 15″ blocks, it will be hard choosing the one that I like best!

Goal #2: Keep reading

While we were at Mom’s house for her surprise birthday party, I spied some of our Grandma’s favorite books. Of course, I had to bring them home with me to read and hope that I had all of them finished by March, when our parents come to Houston for a visit each year.

I have finished “Come Spring” by Ben Ames Williams. It is a true story (with very few elaborations) of the first settlers of Union, Maine. If you look at historical information (I love Google), you can find out more about the main characters and even where you can find their graves!

I am now reading Conrad Richter’s trilogy “The Awakening Land”. The series, set in the wilderness of central Ohio, chronicles the lives of a family that begins in “The Trees,” continues in “The Fields” and presumably ends in “The Town.” I am almost finished with the last book. These books are pretty easy to read and the story plots carry you right through each chapter.

I loved the writing style of Ben Ames Williams in “Come Spring” so much that the next two books I plan to read are also written by him, “A House Divided” and “Unconquered.”

I also need to add M. M. Kaye’s “Far Pavilions” onto my reading list.

Goal #3: Create for the fun of it

I have started planning (and shopping) for a queen-sized quilt for our guest bedroom. Picture brilliant teal-greens and bright jewel tones in a big beautiful quilt! All the fabrics are here and pre-washed, so one of these days I’ll get to start sewing! Along with the new quilt, I will, of course, need to organize and repaint the room as well as make matching queen-sized pillow shams. I’m so excited!!! I wish I had a magic wand that would just git’er done!

We’ll be back, near the end of June, with another update.

Happy quilting,

Sharon & Susan